Thursday, April 12, 2007

R.I.P. Kurt Vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut, brilliant author and satirist, died yesterday at age 84. His works were heavily influenced by his humanist views and experience as a prisoner of war during WWII. If you haven't read Cat's Cradle or Slaughterhouse-Five, you should. If you are an engineer, Player Piano is a 'must read'. All of Vonnegut's novels will make you think, even as you laugh at the black comedy and sometimes cringe at the scathing satire. Good stuff, from a man with a life well lived.

I feel slightly robbed having never gotten to read Vonnegut while in school...and like all those people that picked up a Johnny Cash record after he died, I think I will have to buy a Vonnegut book, probably Slaughterhouse-Five.